May 20, 2012

A Random Sunday In the Life Of, etc.

The rain this morning gave us a great excuse to veg out at
home and watch Satyamev Jayate (after the CSA and the dowry episodes, gender
determination will double, I’m sure) and read in ghastly postures all over the
house. After a very basic lunch, my toes found their way into the side of the
sofa and that strange bone sticking out of my skull (since forever) was merrily
burrowing its way through the husband’s leg, and I was ready to nap for two
hours and repent for four, when the sun showed up, Bangalore kicked their own butt
out of the IPL, and we decided to head out for a coffee and a walk.

The girl at the neighborhood coffee parlor calls us
“chocolate cake” (Racist? Maybe. We’re brown and bitter for sure), and served a
nice thick slab of our favorite coffee accompaniment as we read some more on
her sofa. After that, we decided (as we
do every other day) that we’d go shopping for shoes. Both of us have this
perpetual vague need for new shoes (although we own only two pairs each at any
given time in history) and today we randomly chose the husband as the shoe-shopping
candidate. After trying on some fancy ones and lusting after some obscenely
expensive ones, he settled on a simple pair and for the first time in about 6 months, our
shoe-shopping expedition actually ended up in a purchase.

As our pupils adjusted to the sunlight outside the shoe
shop, we spotted a secondhand books fiesta! No doubt the rain had ruined half
their day, and probably half their books as well, but there they were, in all
their glory! Our first forage yielded
three books and after a long search for the absconding stall owner, we were
cheerfully greeted by a gentlemen who said life was very simple, and three
books were two euro fifty, and he did not want the books anymore... they were
ours. The next stop had us fall in love with a quaint little Dutch comic book
on which no price was mentioned, and the surly gentleman at the stall said it
was five euro after careful study of the comic and of the books jutting out of
our bag. When I smiled and put the book back, he scowled and said “don’t want
it for five? It’s twenty then!” I smiled some more and walked on. The husband,
spotting a good book that was threatening to shed its cover, asked if I’d like
to read it. The pencil mark said it was fifty cents, and the stall owner
shrugged hopelessly and said he’d have to give it for that price then, wouldn’t
he. As we counted five and ten cent coins to make up the fifty, he was sure we
were about to ask for a discount, and we assured him that we were not those
people. Everyone at the book bazaar is bitter in his or her own way, and why
wouldn’t they be? Many of them were probably around when books being available
to and affordable for every one was still a fascinating idea, and in their
lifetimes, they’ll probably have to throw away half their stock because nobody
wants it anymore! For a change, we were not really bitter today, as we found
our first real bargains books-wise in this lovely but expensive city of ours.

We lugged the books around town on a beautiful walk, and are
now back on the sofa and it’s time to read some more. Shoes and books and sofas
and coffee…what more does one need in life?

6 comments:

There is something therapeutic about long walks and books and coffee, with a little love thrown in...courtesy the husband...it surely does paint the ideal picture. A slab of chocolate cake...that's like the topping on this wonderful day of yours.